Noise cancellation needs work. Audio quality a touch below the top of the class. Fiddly controls.

Bottom Line

The Sound ID 400 is a solid Bluetooth headset with several features that separate it from a very crowded field.

The Sound ID 400 is the company's latest salvo in the Bluetooth headset wars. It's a slim, rubberized affair with several unique features, including the hearing-aid-like Environmental Mode, which lets users hear equally out of both ears in between phone calls. The company actually unveiled something similar back with the Sound ID SM100 in 2007; essentially, it passes and amplifies environmental sound through the earpiece, so that you can hear as if the headset wasn't plugging up your ear (sort of). In my tests, it worked as advertised. Fortunately, the rest of the headset turned out pretty good, too.

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Design, Fit, and Pairing
The Sound ID 400 is fashioned in black rubber and plastic. Aside from the rubber casing, it looks like the Sound ID 300 I reviewed earlier this year. The Sound ID 400 measures 0.6 by 2.1 by 0.3 inches (HWD), and weighs 0.3 ounces. The headset sits halfway in your ear, like the Motorola Endeavor HX1 and Plantronics Voyager 835, but is considerably more svelte and lightweight. In the box, Sound ID bundles an AC adapter, a detachable USB cable, and two other in-ear tip sizes, in case the default one doesn't fit (in my case, it did perfectly). There's also a traditional soft foam ear tip and plastic ear hook for those who don't like the idea of something even partially inside their ear. (You'll need the hook in that case, since the headset will fall out without it.)

The first time you power up the Sound ID 400, it defaults to pairing mode. Kicking it into pairing mode on later occasions is as simple as holding the power button for five seconds. The Sound ID 400 supports Bluetooth 2.1 plus EDR (Enhanced Data Rate). I paired the headset with an Apple iPhone 3G, a BlackBerry Curve 8330, and a Samsung Reclaim. When pairing with the iPhone 3G, the headset misidentified itself as Sound ID 300, but not on the Curve 8330 or Samsung Reclaim. Sound quality with all three phones was identical, however.

Controls and Voice Quality
The controls are still tricky; a multi-function button sits on the back edge, while a tiny, raised nub controls volume and toggles PersonalSound modes during calls (more on this later) and Environmental mode when not in a call. You can't tell what the volume setting is until you cycle through all of them and hear a beep; then it starts over with the next button press.

In a series of tests, voice quality performance was good overall. The headset had plenty of gain, enough to almost deafen me even in a loud car interior. Other callers generally knew I was on a headset but thought it sounded crisp and clear. Voice mail tests confirmed that the Sound ID 400 has a bright, crisp tonality to it, but also a tinge of processed sound. It was an improvement over the Sound ID 300's voice transmission quality, though. The Sound ID 400 also captures considerably more room ambience than our benchmark Plantronics Voyager Pro, since the mic sits further away from the mouth.

Noise Cancellation, Range, and Battery Life
Noise cancellation was also good, although not at the top of the class. In addition to Environmental Mode, the headset also features Sound ID's PersonalSound, which lets users tune the audio to three different levels of NoiseNavigation (the company' noise cancellation technology) for improving speech clarity in different environments. NoiseNavigation uses multiple mics and proprietary DSP algorithms for reducing environmental noise. The idea is to let you compensate for background noise without having to raise the volume.

Driving on the highway at 65 miles per hour with the Sound ID 400 set to "normal," callers couldn't tell I was in the car until I rolled down the windowat which point it became abundantly clear. A nearby fan became audible to other callers about three feet away. Even with NoiseNavigation cranked, I could still hear staticky-sounding background artifacts when standing near the fan; my voice also became somewhat distorted, but it was still intelligible.

Bluetooth range was similar to other headsets; voice quality was clear until I walked about 15 feet away from my test handset, at which point static crept into the call. The Sound ID 400 lasted 6 hours and 4 minutes on a talk time rundown test, which is average for the class and good considering its thinness. It charges up the first time in four hours, and then needs 2.5 hours for a full charge each time after that.

Remote Microphone and Conclusions
Along with the Sound ID 400, the company plans to sell an optional $79.99 Remote Microphone later this year. The idea is to clip the glossy black Remote Microphone on a person sitting in the passenger seat, or maybe behind you in an SUV. Then you can hear them speak through the main Sound ID 400. The company also suggests placing the Remote Microphone near a TV or at the opposite end of a conference table. Whenever a call comes in, the Remote Microphone will momentarily cease operation and let you take the call; then it kicks back in once the call is completed. Sound ID sent me a preproduction Remote Microphone, which unfortunately refused to pair with the Sound ID 400; hopefully the company will work out any issues before the Remote Microphone goes on sale.

Competition for the Sound ID 400 is fierce. At $129.99, the Sound ID 400 is priced at the top of the class alongside the Aliph Jawbone Prime and Motorola Endeavor HX1. It's also more expensive than the Plantronics Voyager Pro, our current Editors' Choice for Bluetooth headsets. The Voyager Pro offers longer battery life, sounds better to other callers, and is more comfortable than the Sound ID 400, but the latter point is mitigated by the Voyager Pro's size and heft. The HX1, meanwhile, offers class-leading noise-cancellation due to its "bone-conduction" circuitry, but is almost twice as heavy as the Sound ID 400 (although half an ounce isn't exactly a lead weight either).

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About the Author

Jamie Lendino is the Editor-in-Chief of ExtremeTech.com, and has written for PCMag.com and the print magazine since 2005. Recently, Jamie ran the consumer electronics and mobile teams at PCMag, and before that, he was the Editor-in-Chief of Smart Device Central, PCMag's dedicated smartphone site, for its entire three-year run from 2006 to 2009. Pri... See Full Bio

Sound ID 400

Sound ID 400

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